O.C. judge is scolded a 5th time

The state has disciplined an Orange County judge for the fifth time, this time for requiring that a defendant who pleaded guilty leave the state.

The public admonishment of Superior Court Judge Pamela L. Iles, released Thursday by the Commission on Judicial Performance, does not carry any other punishment.

The commission found that the plea agreement that Iles accepted requiring the defendant to stay outside California “reflects a purpose other than the faithful discharge of judicial duty and was at minimum improper action within the meaning . . . of the California Constitution.”

Iles’ secretary said the judge was referring questions to three supporters, who could not be reached, and her attorney, Edith Matthai, who did not return calls for comment.

Loyola University Law Professor Laurie Levenson said that the public scoldings could catch up with Iles.

“When you see a continuing course of behavior, at some point the commission will get fed up,” Levenson said. “This is a slap on the wrist. The question will be how many times do they slap before they give her the boot.”

Iles was appointed a judge in 1983. Her current term began in January.

She has been repeatedly honored by female lawyers around the state. In 2003, she was recognized as distinguished jurist of the year by California Women Lawyers for efforts to prevent child abuse and domestic violence. In 2006, she was named judge of the year by the Orange County Women Lawyers Assn.

In the latest case, the defendant was charged with making criminal threats, child abuse causing great bodily harm, and assault with a deadly weapon stemming from a domestic violence threat.

According to the commission, Iles told the defendant he would not be sentenced if he stayed out of the state. Iles told the commission that having him leave the state protected his wife and children in California, and she didn’t believe it put anyone in jeopardy in Michigan, where he went.

Iles said if the defendant had been sentenced, he would become a felon and deported to Iraq, where he faced a death warrant.

The last time the commission admonished Iles was in 2006, when she jailed a defendant who refused to pay $1,000 to a victim-witness assistance fund. The court held that by placing the defendant in jail without bail and scheduling a hearing a month later, she had revoked his probation and denied him due process. The man did not have an attorney.

Repeated admonishments are unusual. A 10-year judicial commission study issued in 2002 found that only 3.6% of judges who were reprimanded had three or more priority disciplinary actions against them. Further, fewer than 130 of the estimated 30,000 judges in the United States received any sort of public scolding in 2006, according to the Center for Judicial Ethics of the American Judicature Society, a national clearinghouse for information about judicial ethics and discipline.

jennifer.delson@latimes.com